WAMC - Lower GPA, okay DAT, no interviews as of 10/01

[bb_yoshi]

Date of submission: 07/15
Overall GPA: 3.31
Science GPA: 3.1
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 20 AA, 21 TS, 21 RC, 19 QR, 19 PAT
State of Residence: CA

Undergrad Attended: Public California school
Major: Biology
Minor: Psychology and Business
Minority? Yes - according to UCSF
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: 150 hr at 2 general offices
Volunteering Experience: 1000+ hr variety experiences with several personal philanthropy projects
Employment: 1000+ hr, 5 jobs in the past 4 years with 2 dental jobs in oral surgery (sterilization) and orthodontics (technician)
Research: 500 infectious disease lab, no publications (covid cut study short)
Other Extracurriculars: Executive board member of pre-dent org for 3 years (gen mem 4 years), helped start large dental clinic project, lead and established 3 large scale philanthropy projects, worked throughout college (held 2 jobs at the same time for 2 years)
Relevant Honors or Awards: Leadership academy, school grant to do philanthropy projects, attended UCLA SHPEP
LOR type and strength: 2 dentists (very strong), 1 PI (strong), 1 science prof (moderate-strong?)
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: upper-wards trend; struggled with Ochem
School list:
USC
UCLA
UCSF
Western
UOP
UW
MWU-IL
UIC
NYU
Tufts
BostonU
UMich
Roseman (Received Kira)
UNLV
OHSU (Initial review no decision email)
All Texas Schools
Thinking of adding:
California Northstate?
Howard?

I'm starting to get very anxious due to no interviews coming in. I'm aware I have a lower GPA and DAT but am hoping my extensive extracurriculars and volunteering help me. Please be kind, I know my stats aren't great hah. Good luck on this cycle everyone.

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[artist2022]

Date of submission: 07/15
Overall GPA: 3.31
Science GPA: 3.1
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 20 AA, 21 TS, 21 RC, 19 QR, 19 PAT
State of Residence: CA

Undergrad Attended: Public California school
Major: Biology
Minor: Psychology and Business
Minority? Yes - according to UCSF
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: 150 hr at 2 general offices
Volunteering Experience: 1000+ hr variety experiences with several personal philanthropy projects
Employment: 1000+ hr, 5 jobs in the past 4 years with 2 dental jobs in oral surgery (sterilization) and orthodontics (technician)
Research: 500 infectious disease lab, no publications (covid cut study short)
Other Extracurriculars: Executive board member of pre-dent org for 3 years (gen mem 4 years), helped start large dental clinic project, lead and established 3 large scale philanthropy projects, worked throughout college (held 2 jobs at the same time for 2 years)
Relevant Honors or Awards: Leadership academy, school grant to do philanthropy projects, attended UCLA SHPEP
LOR type and strength: 2 dentists (very strong), 1 PI (strong), 1 science prof (moderate-strong?)
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: upper-wards trend; struggled with Ochem
School list:
USC
UCLA
UCSF
Western
UOP
UW
MWU-IL
UIC
NYU
Tufts
BostonU
UMich
Roseman (Received Kira)
UNLV
OHSU (Initial review no decision email)
All Texas Schools
Thinking of adding:
California Northstate?
Howard?

I'm starting to get very anxious due to no interviews coming in. I'm aware I have a lower GPA and DAT but am hoping my extensive extracurriculars and volunteering help me. Please be kind, I know my stats aren't great hah. Good luck on this cycle everyone.

Would sit tight and wait..... I think UCLA, UCSF, and UoP were reaches, as were all the TX schools. I'd continue shadowing/volunteering and update your app with more hours in early December. I'd also try and take a few extra classes at school or at a CC to help raise your GPAs (upper div is better than lower div and A's are a must).

 

[bb_yoshi]

Would sit tight and wait..... I think UCLA, UCSF, and UoP were reaches, as were all the TX schools. I'd continue shadowing/volunteering and update your app with more hours in early December. I'd also try and take a few extra classes at school or at a CC to help raise your GPAs (upper div is better than lower div and A's are a must).

Thank you for the response! I’m going to try to get 50 more hours of shadowing in and will for sure be taking anatomy with lab at a CC this coming winter. I’m working 45+ hours a week so I’m not sure how plausible it is to take more units. (I support myself and my education so working less is not really an option.) What are your thoughts about adding Northstate and Howard? But thank you for your suggestions, I’ll definitely try and implement those changes.

 

[artist2022]

Thank you for the response! I’m going to try to get 50 more hours of shadowing in and will for sure be taking anatomy with lab at a CC this coming winter. I’m working 45+ hours a week so I’m not sure how plausible it is to take more units. (I support myself and my education so working less is not really an option.) What are your thoughts about adding Northstate and Howard? But thank you for your suggestions, I’ll definitely try and implement those changes.

Northstate hasn't graduated any classes yet so I'd be wary of being a guinea pig there.... Howard is a HBCU so if you feel like that describes you, you could apply there.

 

[bb_yoshi]

Just got rejected by UCSF.

 

[PerioDont]

any movement for you?

 

[bb_yoshi]

any movement for you?

Nothing as of right now. Just trying to stay positive. I will be enrolling in Anatomy for the Winter session, continuing to volunteer, and I’m also thinking of taking dental technician or hygiene classes. Thank you for checking in!

 

[bb_yoshi]

Update: I still haven’t received any interviews and am starting to consider other options in case of an additional gap year. I’m currently working full time (avg: 55 hr/wk) at a dental ortho company and received a promotion to lead so I want to continue doing that. I want to enhance my academics but maybe one class at CC per semester so I don’t overwhelm myself. I’m not sure if this is enough to help my application though. I also realized I didn’t put my entire DAT breakdown so I wanted to update that. AA: 20, TS: 21, RC: 21, PAT: 19, Bio: 21, GChem: 20, Ochem: 21, QR: 19. Please let me know if you have any insight or wisdom to share.

 

[deleted1109581]

As a non-trad applicant, I understand what it feels like to juggle working full time and taking classes/getting ready for dental school. Hang in there!

I think your DAT is good.
You seem to have good experiences and letters.
I think there are still good chances to receive interviews, but if you don't get accepted this cycle, perhaps you can
(1) try submitting your applications in early June
(2) apply to more/other schools
(3) or raise your sGPA by taking more classes (CC, DIY post bac, formal post bac).

How did you come up with your school list?

 

[bb_yoshi]

As a non-trad applicant, I understand what it feels like to juggle working full time and taking classes/getting ready for dental school. Hang in there!

I think your DAT is good.
You seem to have good experiences and letters.
I think there are still good chances to receive interviews, but if you don't get accepted this cycle, perhaps you can
(1) try submitting your applications in early June
(2) apply to more/other schools
(3) or raise your sGPA by taking more classes (CC, DIY post bac, formal post bac).

How did you come up with your school list?

Thank you for your input! I will definitely try to get my app in closer to the start date and continue taking more upper division science courses should I reapply.

For my schools list, I applied to all the California schools since I’m in state then prioritized location and realistic statistics given my GPA. The only reason I applied to Texas (not oos friendly) was because I have some family there, so those schools were more a shot in the dark. I would prefer to stay on the West Coast since I’m very close to my family system here, but if need be I would be willing to make a bigger move. I’m also looking for schools that emphasize community service since that’s something I really enjoy as well. I hope that gives you a better picture of my logic hah!

 

[macsak]

you

Thank you for your input! I will definitely try to get my app in closer to the start date and continue taking more upper division science courses should I reapply.

For my schools list, I applied to all the California schools since I’m in state then prioritized location and realistic statistics given my GPA. The only reason I applied to Texas (not oos friendly) was because I have some family there, so those schools were more a shot in the dark. I would prefer to stay on the West Coast since I’m very close to my family system here, but if need be I would be willing to make a bigger move. I’m also looking for schools that emphasize community service since that’s something I really enjoy as well. I hope that gives you a better picture of my logic hah!

have MW-IL, but not MW-AZ???
you should also add asdoh

 

[deleted1109581]

Thank you for your input! I will definitely try to get my app in closer to the start date and continue taking more upper division science courses should I reapply.

For my schools list, I applied to all the California schools since I’m in state then prioritized location and realistic statistics given my GPA. The only reason I applied to Texas (not oos friendly) was because I have some family there, so those schools were more a shot in the dark. I would prefer to stay on the West Coast since I’m very close to my family system here, but if need be I would be willing to make a bigger move. I’m also looking for schools that emphasize community service since that’s something I really enjoy as well. I hope that gives you a better picture of my logic hah!

That makes sense!
Perhaps you can also consider MOSDOH, Creighton, Loma Linda, NSU, Touro, and UNE?
I personally really liked Touro.

 

[bb_yoshi]

you

have MW-IL, but not MW-AZ???
you should also add asdoh

I ended up adding Arizona later but I applied too late! It was getting really pricey with all the schools I added and I prefer Illinois because I have family there too. If you can’t tell I have a pretty big family haha. 😅

Oh and thank you for the ASDOH suggestion, my friend referred me to their program too. I’ll definitely look into it!

 

[bb_yoshi]

That makes sense!
Perhaps you can also consider MOSDOH, Creighton, Loma Linda, NSU, Touro, and UNE?
I personally really liked Touro.

Ohh thank you for your suggestions! I’ll have to do more research into these programs. I just gotta say, I really appreciate your kindness and willingness to help out a pre-dent. I’ll update this thread if I see anymore movement this cycle, but I’ll keep pushing on until then. 🙂

 

[deleted1109581]

Ohh thank you for your suggestions! I’ll have to do more research into these programs. I just gotta say, I really appreciate your kindness and willingness to help out a pre-dent. I’ll update this thread if I see anymore movement this cycle, but I’ll keep pushing on until then. 🙂

I applied this cycle too! Good luck!

 

[bb_yoshi]

Accepted to Tufts University! 🎉

 

[deleted1109581]

Congratulations!!!!!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Great! When did you get an interview?

 

[bb_yoshi]

Great! When did you get an interview?

Thank you!! I interviewed 02/08 and got my acceptance 02/11. 🙂

 

[bb_yoshi]

Congratulations!!!!!

Thank you so much!!! ❤️